Dodgeball Director Hired To Rewrite The Umbrella Academy For Universal

The career trajectory of Rawson Thurber has always kind of baffled me. While Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story isn't the greatest movie in the world, it's quite funny, received a warm reception from critics and made nearly $170 million internationally on a $20 million budget. But what has Thurber done since? One episode of the short-lived sitcom The Loop, a short in the Cinema16: American Short Films collection, the horrible The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and another short called Manchild. He does have another project in development, but it's being directed by Brett Ratner, so we probably can't expect too much. Is it a matter of a talented guy not getting work or a once-lucky guy finding his position on the totem pole? Perhaps The Umbrella Academy will answer that question.

Universal has hired Thurber to rewrite the adaptation of the comic, according to Deadline. The book, written by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, is about "an adopted dysfunctional family of superheroes" that is brought back together after the death of their adopted father/mentor (who was actually an alien disguised as a rich entrepreneur). The project is the second Dark Horse comic to move into development under the studio, the first being R.I.P.D., which is scheduled to go into production later this year with Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges front-lining and Robert Schwentke directing. The first draft was written by Live Free or Die Hard screenwriter Mark Bomback, but it's not disclosed as to why Thurber was brought in to do rewrites.

I can't say that I'm all too familiar with the source material, but it does sounds like a cool take on the superhero genre. Fans, who would you like to see take the roles of Spaceboy, The Kraken, The White Violin and the others?